Season 4
by bluerock500
Summary: Evolution seems to have screwed up; one of our team is gone, forgotten, like he never existed.worse, he has been replaced by someone familiar. But somehow, it seems he is still here, in more that just memory. what could have happened and where did he go?
1. Episode 1 Your Life in Boxes PT1

The explosion rocked the kitchen. Sarah flew back a couple of feet into a large fridge and Becker was slammed into the edge of a metal counter. The rest of the soldiers and staff ducked. Becker stood and limped over to Sarah. He shook her awake

"Sarah? Are you alright?"

"What Happened?"

"The anomaly device blew up, serves you right for trying to reconfigure it without the Brainiac here"

"Let's try it again"

"No way, you need to see the medical team, get your head checked. Me to it would seem, come on "  
they ambled away towards the ambulances that were parked on the outside of the football stadium.

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"What's the time?"

"Don't know, my watch stopped working when I fell."

"How long do you suppose we've been here?"

"A day or so"

"It's so hot, if we don't get some more water soon... I hate to think"

"You might be able to, get water I mean, but there's no way I'm getting down from this tree, not on this ankle"

"Is it swollen?" Abby reached down to Connors sock and pulled it down ever so slightly. He winced in pain. The ankle was swollen and bruised in purple and yellow.

"Do you think they'll find us?"

"Dunno, Sarah might figure it out."

"Figure what out?

"Remember that anomaly ages back, the dodos, when- when tom died?"

"Course I do! Spaghetti junction you called it." She laughed at the memory, especially Leek shrieking like a girl when the dodoes came through.

"Well it opened on to hundreds of other anomalies, hundreds! But it didn't seem to actually be any were. It had no animals or plants other than common grass."

"So?" she was failing to grasp the point to one of Conner's endless rambles

"I don't really know how to say it... remember the second matrix movie with the corridor in the building that didn't actually exist in reality, but its doors opened to hundreds of places? That's what I think our Spaghetti junction is. It's the back door of all anomalies. Sarah and I hypothesised that from that plane you could access every anomaly that ever was."

"But how do we get there?"

"That's sort of the snag. Although you can access any anomaly while there, there are only a few anomalies that lead back to the plane, the one in the kitchen being one of them"

"So that sort of throws a spanner in the works"

"Well no, actually. A large number of mythological beasts appeared from this time period, but throughout history suggesting that either we are about to see a huge number of anomalies open, or one of them will happen to open into our spaghetti junction"

"And how do you suppose we find these anomalies huh?"

"With this" he pulled an old anomaly detector out of Becker's bag "Becker must have thought it was useful"

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'Here we are"

"Were?" Becker looked around. All around him was sand and stone crags.

"Site 333. Hopefully this it were Danny and Abby are"

"DANNY" Becker didn't exactly look hopeful but he was trying at least. They started toward one of the higher hills to get an over view and saw far off in the distance a man wearing a red shirt

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She was fighting sleep. Her eye lids were so heavy they felt leaded but she knew that if she slept she was likely to no wake up again. She looked over at Conner. He too was having the same problem. Every now and then his head would bob forward and he would jerk up wards eyes open wide. His lips were cracked and chapped and his eyes were blood shot. She didn't suppose she looked any better. His breathing seemed heavy, in a bad way.

"Conner?" he didn't answer just smiled dreamily as his head bobbed up and down. "Conner? Come on wake up, don't sleep now!"

But Conners face tipped backwards and his head hit the tree branch. She shook him over and over, but moving her arms was like swimming through syrup. Her movements were slow, and her eyes were becoming itchy and dry at the effort to keep them open.

"Come on..." she was yawning now, big fat yawns. Her mouth was parched and her head hurt, all the while sleep was beckoning to her like a dark black lake, a cool reservoir from the pre historic sun. She finally succumbed to her sleep; her body slumped over Conner's legs. He didn't even notice the pain from his ankle anymore.

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Danny was hauled back through the anomaly, practically unconscious, exactly 2 days and 4 hours after he left. The entire medical team of the ark was on site, crowded into the small metal kitchen, clumped around metal tables. They all started forward as Becker burst through the anomaly.

It took about an hour and a half to get Danny to stop yelling at them about Abby and Conner and how much he "hates this bloody sodding job" before the medics could finally check him over. They found a series of long cuts on his neck and face, and they were now being slowly stitched up

"What the matter?" Sarah had turned around to see Becker leaning up against the side of an industrial fridge, looking like he was about to kill someone.

"Danny is still wittering on in nonsense and if we don't get Abby back TODAY, Lester will have my head on the chopping block"

"Well go for you then, because through Danny's babbling and my own guestimations-"

"guestimations?"

"It's a very scientific term Becker". She was giving him the evil eye so he shut his mouth on what he was about to say. "I think I have the right anomaly. A scouting team went through 3 minutes ago. If they find anything, or anyone, they can bring them back"

"But that's my job"

"Honestly Becker, we've both been up for 2 days straight, worried about our friends working ourselves to the bone. We are too tired right now, let some else who actually slept last night do the job, you can be hero guy later!" the last bit was snapped out but right now she didn't really care. They stood fuming at each other until one of the tech operators called out to Sarah, or rather yelled out

"We have visual of a young woman in a tree!"

"WHAT" both Becker and Sarah were next to the terrified technician before he could get a word in edge ways.

"Becker, there! Look there!" Sarah was pointing on the fuzzy screen, practically bouncing up and down. One of the men in the group had zoom in on the canopy of a tree, and there, sleeping in its branches, was the unmistakable figure of Abby.

"Ok boss, were going in for the retrieval". Abby finally stirred as they were climbing down the tree, starting to mumble and groan as the men moved her down to the forest floor and towards the first anomaly. It wasn't until they reached the anomaly junction that the trouble started.

"Stop, stop please, where's Conner?" she was being dragged along behind a group of Anomaly personnel. When they continued walking she struggled against his grip on her arm, wrenching herself backwards and into the man behind her. "WHERES CONNER!"

Becker and Sarah watched as Abby started fighting. "Who are you, where are you taking me AND WERE THE HELL IS CONNER?"

"There she goes, just like Danny! Babbling on in nonsense"

"Perhaps she doesn't recognise the guards in their new uniforms?"

"We changed the uniforms from navy and black to black and green, it's not a huge change"

"I'll go get her; it might be good for her to see a familiar face."

"You just want to be the hero don't you Mr Becker" she smiled and raised her eyebrows at him

"Captain Becker to you Sarah." He smiled at her. The casual flirting had been going on for a month now, but this was still as far as it got

"Do you actually have a first name?"

"No"

"Everyone has a first name, tell me. Is it embarrassing?"

"Yes very!" he was strapping on his vest again and checking his guns

"Come on tell me"

"Hilary," he said as he vanished through threw anomaly. Sarah was left to giggle her heart out.

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"Stop!" the 4 people in front of him continued fighting, Abby tackling of the 3 trained ark personnel with surprising ease, something Becker made a note of. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled, LOUDLY.

"EVERYBODY STOP MOVING" the fight froze, everyone turned to face him. The three ark soilders quickly fell in line, but Abby rushed forward to him and hugged him tightly.

"Becker, come on help me get out of here"

"Abby these people are ark personnel; they came to retrieve you from the past." Abby stood there, considering the sentence. Becker put a hand on her back and started leading her toward the anomaly

"They did?" she stepped through first, greeted by a round of loud cheering

"Yes they did"

"Then why didn't they get Conner?"

"Abby "the rest of the group was coming toward her, Sarah smiling warmly. But there was someone else with her, standing beside her, drinking a star bucks coffee, and smiling at her helping Danny stand on wobbling legs.

"Where's Conner?" she whisper it more to her this time, timid and scared.

"Abby, "Stephen looked at her with wary eyes "Who is Conner?"

..... CREDITS

**AN: Oh my god everybody, its Stephen, Stephen hart BACK FROM THE DEAD!!!! And Conner has pulled a Claudia on us. **

**So this is probably the first episode. Maybe not as long as I would have liked, but I hope it was ok. Sorry about any grammar mistakes, I am my own editor. Flames Welcome but cookies Prefered!**


	2. Episode 1 Your Life in Boxes PT2

Disclaimer: I don't own it. If I did there would be more Abby and Connor and Sarah and Becker.... oh well. Sorry about Becker being a little OOC but I could see him doing this and I think the characters of Becker and Sarah are way to underdeveloped. THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REVISED

Episode 1 Part 2

~"To hide the key to your heart is to risk forgetting where you placed it."~

Abby shivered as a cold wind blew through the parking lot. The others had moved on to the front gate and were heading toward security. She stood still, watching for any chink in the armour, a flaw or a dent; something that would give this ARK away as something different, something other than her ARK.

The whole team had spent the entire car ride in awkward silence, Stephen prodding and poking her for answers about who Connor was. When he realised how unsuccessful that would be he promptly shut up. Abby still hadn't seen the medical team. She had chugged about 20 bottles of water and a handful of crisps to battle her "dehydration and sever hunger'. Other than being tired, she felt fine. In truth she wanted to go home, forget this mess as a simple dream and nothing more.

The world was moving on without her and a new anomaly had opened up in farming country about a mile from the ARK. Fortunately because she was suffering from "Acute exhaustion", there was nothing she could do, Lester was afraid she might fall asleep on the job apparently. So she had to be dropped off at the ARK while the others drove off to save the world again. Lester wanted her questioned and analyzed for anything out of the ordinary.

"ABBY! Come on, get that arse in gear!" it was Danny, beckoning to her from the door way. She ran up to him and slipped inside into the familiar white glow of the ARK. Nothing had changed, it was all so similar.

"Danny, do I still live in the same place?" she had to jog slightly to keep up with his long strides.

"How would I know?" he laughed "I don't exactly know where you lived before"

"My little loft down in Camden?"

"Yeah, and you have a pet dinosaur called Rex, and two giant hamsters called Sid and Nancy. Hope you remember them 'cos Rex will be well depressed if you've forgotten his name"

"No I remember Rex, he was my first ever creature." She paused , her hand suddenly flying to her mouth . Danny turned to face her as she grabbed his arm.

"Do I... live with anyone.... roommate, brother.... boyfriend?"

"No, not that I know of. You always said you would jump of the London Bridge if you ever got a roommate." She smiled; she had always said that until Connor came along.

"Yeah well, don't forget it." She punched him in the arm and turned around to look at the labs they were passing. She couldn't stop sniffling, and as excited as she was to go home she knew as soon as she did she would run into Connors (empty) room, and burst into heaving sobs.

"So you all off then?"

"Becker is staying. He hit his head pretty bad and I think he's worried about you. Lester won't let him out in the field either. He's had a pretty short leash since jenny."

"Oh god! Did jenny-"

"NO no, she's not dead or nothing. But he seems to think part of the reason she resigned was because she almost died, which is probably a very good point. If there's even the smallest thing wrong with us now, we're benched". They had reached the main hub of the ARK, and technicians were swirling and swirling round the multiple monitors of the Anomaly detector. A young Asian woman was tinkering with the circuit board in what looked to be a game boy. She flipped it over and Abby recognised it as one of Connors designs for the new handheld. The blueprints had been in the huge stack of things that Lester wanted Connor to do for the ARK. She was about an inch away from the lab techs head, and the blueprints she was looking at, when Stephen walked past them with a cup of star bucks.

"Danny, Lester wants us to be leaving NOW, so I suggest you go and grab your gun and detector." He continued walking and then, seemingly as an afterthought, turned to Abby "Lester told you to get to the interrogation room ASAP"

As he walked away Abby asked "so who built the detectors then?"

"Stephen did". Danny said this with such sincerity that Abby had to giggle. When she saw how serious he really was she quickly turned it into a yawn.

"What"

"Nothing I didn't say anything'

"You did that stifling yawn thing that you do when you're trying not to laugh." She had to admit, this Danny knew her pretty well, a lot better than her Danny.

"It's just, in my reality, were Stephen slept with Helen and died, he wasn't really the brain. More of an action man"

"You joking, Stephens a total brain. He developed most of the technology around you." He gave her a goofy smile, and she looked down, her dry eyes suddenly moist.

"What?" Danny looked confused as Abby raised her head, brave face failing when he saw her rapidly reddening eyes and tear tracks.

"That was Connors job, tech guy. He was such a dork. Goofy grin always wore the weirdest clothes."

"Such as?

"just a mix of things, He was never without a pair of fingerless gloves, suit waistcoats and skinny jeans. And he had this weird thing for fedoras" she laughed remembering the hair cut he had when they first meet, flipping out perfectly under the brim of his hat.

"You were close"

"Oh I don't know," she sighed. Truth was they were closer than she would ever admit. Best friends. "He was irritating and weird. He went on and on in science jargon, loved to watch star trek, star wars. Anything with star in the title really, dead easy to shop for at Christmas" but yeah, she thought, we were close.

**CUT TO INTERRIGATION ROOM CUT TO INTERRIGATION ROOM CUT TO INTERRIGATION **

"Name?"

"Abby Maitland"

"Age?"

"23"

"How old where you when you started working at the ARK?"

"20"

"What was your profession before hand?"

"Amateur zoologist"

"Define amateur please."

"I never received any formal training." Becker looked at her quizzically. This was probably one of the weirdest interviews in her life. She was sitting in the interrogation room that they held all their interviews in, only this time she was on the other side of the table, where nervous military guys sat while Lester and Jenny verbally abused them.

"Rank at the ARK"

"Field Agent 3" Becker nodded add started shuffling the files around, read to move into the more uncomfortable part of the talk, the actual talking part.

"Field agent 2 if Danny has anything to say about it "

"What do you mean?"

"Oh you know, he was thinking of sending Stephan back into the lab. The guys a great tracker but give him a gun and a target in London and he will somehow end up hitting Kansas."

"Different than my Stephen"

"Your Stephen?"

"The one from my world, he was more of an action man"

Becker chuckled "that was the nickname he gave me on our first day, when I joined after Tom died he wasn't so happy, thought I was intruding."

"Tom?"

"Last name Curran, tall red head bloke. I met him once when I was just another one of your army guys." Becker pulled out a small pile of photos, one for each of the ARK personnel including Leek and Cutter. Abby immediately picked up the photo of Connors friend Tom; she recognised his scruffy hair and beard from when he had attacked her all those years ago; Her brain instantly bringing forth the image of his body being zipped into a pristine white body bag.

"He was one of Connors friends in my world. And in my world he never knew about any of this, died a couple of months after the group formed. Connor was distraught." She remembered the awkward silence in her apartment that lasted for weeks, until Connor just started brushing it off.

"Speaking of Connor, we've covered all the formal questions and personality profiling, so it's time to play spot the bloody difference"

"Between this world and mine?" Becker nodded and then motioned with his hand for her to continue. They were sat in the dark of the interrogation room, the only light coming from the large round table. Abby suddenly realised how much more terrifying this room was when you were the one being asked the questions. She sat there fidgeting, not sure where to begin. She and Becker never talked much in her world, and she got the sense that the same was true here. He was nice enough, but she wasn't sure if she could confide in him about Connor.

"Start at the beginning Abby, with the forming of the original AR Team"

"It was Cutter, Stephen, Leek, Connor and I. We met on our first anomaly by chance. I had just dropped out of collage to be a zoologist, just barley 20. Cutter was still looking for answers after Helen, Stephen and Leek just went along with Cutter and Lester, and Connor was searching for something different, something... more. He was 22, and yet he seemed so much younger, a naive kind of guy. We were in the home office until the anomaly with the dodos"

"We have that on record, parasites right? It bit one of Tom's friends Duncan"

"In my reality it bit Tom. After that Lester funded to have this place built, a more secure location tailored to our needs. Then Helen appeared and everything was a mess, suddenly Cutter was talking about this woman called Claudia brown, and then we found out that Leek was working with Helen. And on top of that Helen was sleeping with Stephen and Connors girlfriend was hired by Leek, which didn't surprise me at all, and it all got a bit confusing after that."

"Why didn't Connors girlfriend working for Leek surprise you?"

"Connor was a geek. He was a sweet geek alright but he was still a geek. So when he got a girlfriend we were all a little suspicious. Turned out she was actually sort of into him, but he didn't actually like her, I just think he was sort of desperate. Anyway, Stephen died to save the team-"

"That's how Tom died. He locked himself in with a bunch of creatures."

"And Lester hired you and Cutter hired Sarah. After Cutter died, Connor changed. He was different ever since Stephen and Leek but, after Cutter..." she looked away remember how much of a workaholic he had become, the leader now instead of the sidekick." Anyway Lester hired Danny. Helen came back and vowed to go back in time-"

"to sight 333, yeah were on the same page there" he was scribbling in his report , pondering aloud if they should get a sketch artist in for Connor, then noted it down on the edge if the page.

"Are we done?"

"Yep finished"

"Can I go home?" she was pleading with her eyes. He laughed at her expression"

"You can go whenever you want." She stayed seated, thinking of going home, thinking of opening the door to an empty apartment. Her mind played through walking upstairs to find no clothes crumpled on the floor, all the lights off and the chairs tucked in, not DVD's overflowing onto the floor. But there would also be no music, the music only Connor had, all of his weird indie rock. There would be no note on the fridge, or playful discussion over takeout that night. She would walk into his empty room, sit on the guest bed and cry her eyes out, curled into a ball, missing the smell of his shampoo in the bathroom steam and on the pillows. It all seemed so empty.

"do you really want to go?" he leaned over toward her, studying her face. He really was creepy good at this counsellor stuff.

"No." It was a whisper, not the strong' I'm fine' she had planned

"You and Connor where close,"

"Best friends I guess. He could always cheer me up on a bad day, always. We would have the worst day ever, saving the world and hating everything and everyone, but then we would go home and it would be like we were never involved in the ARK, we were just to college roommates ."

`Go home Abigail, you have to do it sometime and you need to cry long and hard before you come back. `

`When did you become so sensitive?"

"There are a lot of things you people don't know about me, like the fact I studied physiology for 2 years before getting a job in combat" Abby laughed slightly as Becker got up and left, still jotting notes down.

**BACK AT HOME BACK AT HOME BACK AT HOME BACK AT HOME**

Quiet, just as she predicted. She shuffled to the kitchen and put the kettle on to boil. Rex was sleeping next to the heater and Sid and Nancy were curled up in front of the radiator in the corner. Abby slowly started up the stairs one foot at a time. It seemed so hostile, not clothes falling down stairs or DVDs and Xbox games stacked in piles, cold and sterile, completely unlived in. She flicked the light on; An empty room, just a bed, a table and a wardrobe. It wasn't until she left that she noticed something. A photograph caught under the legs of the bed, one of those long strips from a photo booth. They were all of her except for the last one, were she was caught fighting a hand wearing a pair of grey and yellow knitted fingerless gloves.

End Quote:

The existence of forgetting has never been proved: we only know that some things do not come to our mind when we want them to"

AN: Yay chapter 2, my fastest and longest update ever. Please review again and thank you to Obsessed-Primeval for the fav and to mazmaxicle, I hope this meets expectations. There is now some doubt as to what has happened, what with the glove and all. And no the pictures didn't fall out of Abby's pocket, they really are there


	3. End Episode 1 Your Life In Boxes

**AN: I could make a million excuses about why i am so late and how bad my grammar and spelling was in previous chapters. I request that you review as to whether you want a new chapter or for a major spell check of the last two chapters**

**And your Abby Connor related quote **

"_When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough."_

**This just makes me think of the angst she must be going through right now, that her biggest grievance is that she never really paid as much attention to their relationship as she could have.**

She looks carefully at the skinny strip in her hand. They had been take what must have been months ago. She was posing for her passport, no smiles, just blank staring. That was until the last one. She was leaning of to one side, face turned to laugh at something, or someone. Their arm was extending into the corner of the shot, covered in a grey knitted fingerless glove with acid yellow cuffs. A classic Connor pair, the type she would see him wear every day.

She felt a chill creeping down her back. Here it was, a piece of Connor, her Connor temple, sitting in the palm of her hand. She placed the photos face down onto her coffee table and stood, eye's scanning the apartment. Connor was very particular about his stuff, he even had a series of hiding places like draws in the freezer or once he hid his entire battle star galactic collection from her by prying up a series of floor boards when she was away. She slowly got up and padded around, searching with her foot for the familiar creek. Finally, a row of boards squealed as she trod down on it. Carefully she poked her fingernails underneath and pried it up.

Empty. There was nothing there, a couple of large threatening spiders but that was it. She punched the board back into place and stood up. She then proceeded to sweep the apartment, scouring over his bedroom floor, through the bathroom cupboards and the closest. There was a mug in the kitchen that he bought her for her 21st birthday, covered in gold scales. But then again, anyone could have got that for her in this reality. She found concert tickets to one of Connor's favourite bands, but in this reality, she didn't know if the tickets belonged to someone else like Stephen or, god forbid, Danny. The sofa was clean of any debris and so were the spaces in between mattresses. In fact whoever had cleaned out the apartment was so meticulous that they seemed to have cleaned each of her glass aquariums in case Connor had hidden anything in them (which he had before actually). It was a wonder that that one strip of photos had been left. She carefully creased them down the middle and slotted them along with the concert tickets into the mug and sat there, staring at it.

When in doubt though, her instinct told her to go back to the arc, and after about half an hour of sitting there, silently crying, she threw the mug into her bag and started her car in the hopes that someone would be there that she could talk to, like Becker.

The arc was still empty when she got there, just a scattering of research scientist and injured commando types cleaning weapons in the armoury, not even Becker was in site. Her head was beginning to hurt and she felt more lost than ever. She walked back up towards her tiny cupboard of an office and sat down.

She lent backwards and started humming to herself, wondering where the anomaly was. She badly wanted to join in and forget about today, hoping maybe Connor might appear. Luckily she was dragged away from her musings as the sound of joyful yelling echoed down the hallway, the team was back. She got up and lent against the doorframe, watching them run down the hall, slowly slipping into their respective labs and offices, until only Danny was left.

"Hey Abby! How you doing? Becker says you were a right mess to deal with" he towered above her grinning. "Um abby just to give you a heads up, my friend just moved into my flat."

"So?" She hoped this wasn't some sort of indication that she and Danny had a relationship; he was about 15 years older than her.

"Well..... It means I had to kick Stephen out. You know what he's like; he can never keep a flat for more than a month, trouble with authority and all that."

"...and?"

"I think he might be looking to move in with you. ``

``Danny, I really don`t want-`

``Look I know this really isn`t the best time but you're the only one with free space. Becker's apartment is about the same size as a bathroom and Sarah's apartment is even smaller``

"What about Lester, you know he has that huge place down town"

"Lester? Really? Doubt he'd be hospitable enough to even let us know the address in case of emergency"

"Yeah well, it was worth the shot. When he going to ask?" at that moment Danny glanced down the hallway.

"I think right now" he scuttled of in the other direct as Stephen came round the door frame.

"Guess he already told you?"

"Yeah, don't blame him"

"It'll only be for a few weeks, a month at most."

"fine." He came into the room future and lent against the bookcase that was filled with old movies.

"Are you alright Abby? You look tired?"

"I'm fine, just having my little Claudia brown moment."

"What?"

"Cutter and his Claudia brown jenny thing. Remember?"

"Yeah. Unfortunately your guy doesn't even have a jenny ." he paused and looked at her face, stained with old unwashed tears." go home Abby and sleep this time, stop thinking about it"

"Yeah you're right" she was so tired of the idea of having to stay here any longer that she grabbed her jacket and walked back to the car park

"I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah sure".

What she didn't realise is that she had left the mug out on the table, the photos and the tickets tucked carefully inside. As she walked down the hallway, Stephen lent forward to mug, tipping it over harshly, letting it roll of the desk and onto the floor with a soft thump as it met the carpet. He pulled the photos up and studied than, then pockets them in his jeans and walked out.

The first box was on her doorstep when she got home, a small taped up box painted white with her address written neatly on top. She picked it up and brought it into the living room, putting star wars in the DVD player and grabbing a huge mug of tea. She slowly slit open the tape on top.

Her mug crashed to the floor making Rex Squeal in protest and tea spray everywhere. A little green dinosaur toy, an old iPod covered in doctor who and a collection of school photos, each labelled meticulously

_Connor Temple age 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10_


	4. Up in the Air PT1

_**Previously on Primeval: Her mug crashed to the floor making Rex Squeal in protest and tea spray everywhere. A little green dinosaur toy, an old iPod covered in doctor who and a collection of school photos, each labelled meticulously **_

_**Connor Temple age 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10**_

**AN: I was wondering, do you want me to update faster with shorter chapters or slower with longer chapters?**

**Quote**

**There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go**

"Abby! Wake up, the ARC just called there's another anomaly" Stephen was balancing a tray of tea in one hand and a stack of papers and a handheld detector in the other. It had been two weeks since he moved in and they had settled into a comfortable routine where Stephen still felt wanted but Abby didn't have to be around him much, unless there was an anomaly alert. This was the 4th in two weeks and Abby was starting to get tired. Her neck was full of knots and her muscles ached from having to fight a group of armed crusaders from the 12th century, running from the odd looking gigantoraptor, herding a young leaellynasaura and avoiding a distressed tojiangosaurus. Add countless hours of paper work to that and a constant feeling of unease and Abby was quickly running herself into the ground.

"Abby come on! Your goanna love this one"

"Oh yeah? Whys that "she asked as she dragged herself up out of the comfort of the duvet and toward the bathroom.

"it's at the Palace of Westminster, we get a close up with Big Ben." Trust Stephen to get excited. Over the last week she had managed to muddle out the differences between her Stephen and this Stephen. He was still the ultimate ladies man, and was good enough to spar with her, but like Becker had said, he couldn't shoot to save his life. This Stephen was smarter two, almost as smart as Connor had been.

When had she stopped thinking of Connor in the present tense? When had he become a "had been" as opposed to "is"? She still missed him, so much it hurt, and that she didn't ever really stop crying, especially when accidently reminded of him. The team was learning her triggers. None of them wore hats after Sarah put on an old fedora she found in one of the unused lockers that looked so much like one of Connor's. None of them wore fingerless gloves or talked about stuff like Sci-fi.

She splashed water on her face and shook Connor out her mind. She got dressed slowly, throwing on long black leggings and big boots that Becker lent her a while ago. She pulled her head through a turquoise tank top and threw one of her old tunic sized band shirts on over top. Stephen appeared at the door just as she was walking out and she crashed into him, sending him stumbling backwards. She grabbed the mugs of tea before he spilt them trying to save his papers from flying everywhere. She took a sip from one of the mugs and hid her grimace. Stephens tea was always much to watery and strong, not enough milk and too much time left standing in the pot. She drank it anyway; thankful of the warmth it bought to her bones.

They arrived at the anomaly site to find a woman dressed in a pin striped suit talking with a group of grouchy looking middle aged men.

"I'm sorry miss, you can't come in here." It was one of the traffic guys moving cars away from the anomaly site. This meant they were probably late, as it seemed Lester

Had already had enough time to evacuate the building and set up security. Even worse it meant something was probably already out of the anomaly. Stephen an Abby flashed their identity cards at him and continued on their way to the makeshift parking space. The woman in the suit saw them getting out of the car and hurried over.

"I'm sorry but only authorised personal are allowed here"

"Don't worry we're the specialists,"

"Oh really! Are you Danny Quinn then?" she looked at Stephen hopefully

"Um, sorry, no. I'm Stephen, Stephen hart" he flashed her a huge smile and reached to shake her hand, which she did quickly and them fidgeted nervously looking over her shoulder

"Are you alright?"

"It's my first day on the job and I'm supposed to be meeting a team from.... from the place were I'm working. My boss gave me three names but none of them have shown up yet." She turned back toward them "you're not Abby Maitland are you?"

"Yeah that's me."

"Oh thank god" the woman started walking away and Abby and Stephen quickly gathered their stuff up and followed. "I've been told to tell you that we sealed the anomaly but something already came through, though the era is unclear."

"What type of 'something'?"

"I don't know. I don't even know what half of it means. All I was told is that you deal with 'time disruptions'. Honestly to me it sounds like a bad fantasy book. But the first rule of my job is never ask questions" they walked in silence for a while after that.

"You're the new PR person aren't you?" It was Stephen who said it. They had come up just outside the main entrance to the grand hall.

"Jean Right."

"Well Jean, let's have a look at this anomaly" he pushed open the door and walked into the room under the soft glow of the flickering anomaly. It was a small one by their standards, but big enough for a couple of nasty raptors to get through it they wanted to. Unfortunately though it was floating in mid air, a couple of feet or so above them, meaning they were probably looking for something aerial. Abby immediately picked ivy out of the crowd, her hair tied in a smart ponytail, tinkering with some of the tech in front of her. She was Stephens's young assistant, and usually on scene before the two of them. She handed them both a small star bucks coffee, and gave Stephen the electromagnetic readouts from the anomaly

"What came through ivy?" the pair left Jean standing in the entry way gaping at the anomaly before her.

"Unfortunately it looks to be a baddie. Haast eagle." Stephen started choking and gasping on his coffee.

"And it's sort of... loose in the palace."

"Great.... it's going to be a long day." At that moment Danny came crashing through the doors, followed by Becker and Sarah. They came crashing into the completely frozen Jean.

"Sorry! So sorry! Hi, you must be new; I'm Danny, Danny Quinn." He stood there hand outstretched, and she started at him blankly.

"Hey Danny. This is Jean Right, she's the new Jenny."

"OH! Right, Lester told me there would be someone coming in for our next anomaly."

"I think she's in shock. Hello? Jean? Are you ok sweetheart?" Sarah put her arm around her trying to shake the older woman out of whatever state she was in.

"Um sorry... what is that?" she pointed a shaking fingernail toward the anomaly.

"That is an anomaly, a time anomaly. It's what this team does, we deal with anomalies, make sure what ever come through goes back"

"Yeah and we got a big one, Haast eagle."

"What's that?"

"Think normal eagle on major steroids."

"How big?"

"Average... About 8 feet across if we're lucky, bigger than ten if where not, and they are brilliant killers." Danny looked down at his small hand held tranquiliser gun

"We're going to need a bigger gun"

End Quote:

Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of withering, of tarnishing.

Want more normal Primeval or more "Where the hell is Connor?". I was think i would do about 6 episodes. Ok?


	5. Up in the Air PT2

A/N: ok so a lot of people are worried about Connor so I thought I would just put it in here. CONNOR IS NOT GONE OR DEAD! CONNOR WILL RETURN! However what sort of state he returns is still up for debate.

Also on a side note, because she will become a regular cast member in this story, a picture of Jean Right played by Lucy Cohu. Probably shorter hair than in the pictures.

.

.com/upload2/77943/tn-500_

Some liberty is taken in the interiors of the parliament building and in the bell tower

We'll end up having everything up in the air,  
just waiting for the sky to fall.

The bigger gun was defiantly a monster, and after Stephen was done drooling over it, Becker managed to load it with enough tranquiliser to take out a bull elephant. They split teams, Danny and Sarah with jean and Abby with Stephen and Becker.

'Right you go down those corridors there; we'll head up wards and check the next level'

Becker handed another, slightly smaller, gun to Danny and then led the pair up into the rooms above them.

Most rooms that they came across were destroyed; fabric seats torn, glass and lights cracked and papers scattered everywhere. The eagle was defiantly in this part of the building, and Abby briefly considered calling Danny back for reinforcement, but pressed on after the silent Becker and the over excited Stephen, who was taking magnetic readings from everywhere.

Becker started up the stairway towards a library building and Abby swiftly followed.

"Stephen, stop taking readings and hurry up" Stephen was still stood at the base of the stairs taping away furiously at something on his palmtop. Abby sighed and moved away from him. She didn't like hanging around Stephen; he made her skin crawl in the wrong way, not like Connor. That was another thing about him that got under her skin. He was so much like Stephen, her Stephen, and yet sometimes he would show up at work after one of him "times alone to think" and he would have flashes of brilliance, brilliance just like Connors.

The library too was a mess. Files had been pulled from polished shelves documents scattered from above, like snow. The eagle had been here recently, and left soon after. Abby was amazed at the stealth the animal managed to maintain in the cramped space. The pages on the floor were sprinkled like soft confetti. Abby noticed something in the pages. A long amber coloured feather. She picked it up turning it softly in her hands. It was gigantic. The almost 15 inches long from the sharp bloodied base to the light, air soft tip

"Come on Becker, the bird isn't here and I want to take this feather back to Stephen." Becker stood stock still in the middle of the room, face turned upwards toward the sky light, pages falling around him like the swirling eye of a storm, golden sun shining across his hair in tiny crystal shapes and his hands gripping the gun lightly. He should have looked like an angel.

But then something landed on his cheek with a soft splat, leaving a dark stain as it slowly slid down his chin, ruining the images as his grip on the gun tightened, then another on the bridge of his nose. As she looked down she saw the pages around him were covered in it. Slowly she followed his eyes up.

Two young librarians, a young man and a pretty Indian girl lay draped like dolls across a low beam in the ceiling, their faces serene, lying against on another peacefully. The girl's creamy sweater was stained scarlet, and the young man's hand was covered in viscous crimson blood, the drops slowly sliding from the tips of his fingers to fall on Becker's forehead.

She choked back a scream, and it came out as a strangled sob, her body freezing. Becker turned to her, his face stern, streaked with blood.

"We should go get Stephen" he walked toward her grabbing her arm roughly pulling her away, dragging her to the stairs. All she could see though were those two librarians. More specifically the young man.; dressed in a green t-shirt and a purple silk backed waistcoat, black hair falling over his face, sticking to his forehead. Just like Connor, sitting slumped in the tree those few months ago, his body pale and cold, covered in sweat as his body fought of infection.

And the Becker spun her around and pushed her forward down the corridor, making her trip and fall down the stairs, skinning her knee. Her head spun with fear and her mouth ran dry, the taste of bile creeping up her throat, her limbs shaking as they turned the corner, Becker pulling her upwards.

The hallway in front of them was vast, the white marble cold and sterile looking. And more importantly, empty. Stephen had moved away, no longer at the base of the stairs studying the space. All that was left was a red streak sliding all the way down to the large open atrium that lead toward the stairs and-

"-Big Ben. " Becker turned to her eyes widening. She continued, remembering an anomaly long ago when the pterodactyl came through.

"It'll look for a place to roost, the higher the better. If it can't get out..."

"It's going up the clock tower!"

Then suddenly, from somewhere far away in the building, echoing down the numerous corridors came a scream.

"Oh my god." it was Becker this time, breaking his solider cool. "Was that Stephen?" There was something like hope in his voice, and it took a second for Abby to figure out why

"It can't be, that was a woman's scream."

"Maybe it was the new girl jean; she could have found a body."

"Maybe" she gulped "it could be Sarah."

She watched as a muscle in his jaw twitched, his entire posture tensed.

"Then I guess it's time to be Big Damn Heroes" and with that he took off running down the hallway

The stairs leading up to the top of the tower were dull, the walls a generic of white and the banisters stiff cold iron bars covered in chipped black paint.

The bell tower was spacious and centered around a collection of monstrous bells. Becker and Abby emerged from the top of the stairs in the middle of the room, looking around wildly, eyes darting to every corner of the room. Stephen sat slumped against a wall eyes shut head resting on Sarah's shoulder. They were both covered in blood.

Becker started toward them, gun dropping to the ground. Suddenly a screech was heard from over head and Abby was cast into shadow as the great bird descended from the rafters

In landed in front of them the sweeping of his 7ft wing span sending Becker stumbling back a few paces as it reared up to protects its meal. Its feathers were silky and ranged from deep pitch black to the coolest amber. It folded its wings delicately and jabbed its head around, watching them with intelligent warm golden eyes. It was calculating its next move, survival instinct thinking over fight or flight

"Abby! Becker! Are you up there!" Danny's voice, he must have followed the eagle when it took Sarah. Or maybe he had followed to trail of blood.

Abby felt herself shift back to the stairs, hand shifting a millimetre toward her walkie-talkie, fear gripping her. And that was all the eagle needed. It knew it was bigger and stronger and faster, and now it knew it had the advantage of fear

It would chose fight

It took up in the air diving down to ward Abby, just as Becker dived again for Sarah. The eagle altered its course, going to protect its food, knocking Becker of balance as Abby grabbed Sarah's jacket and the eagle picked them up it its large claws. There was a loud blast and a deafening screech and far below Abby could see Danny's frowning face, aiming the gun up at her. The claws that grabbed Abby and Sarah loosed and she was sent plummeting downward, her eyes shut, listening to the sound of Becker's yells

A/N: SO thank you to all of my wonderful new following subscribing friends and love and cookies for those who reviewed. If anyone noticed, there was a little big of a firefly reference in there with big damn heroes. I saw the opportunity and couldn't resist. I am sorry! With the absence of Connor I am making everyone more like him. Also you may have noticed a small amount of Becker love. It is true I do love Becker..... But not as much as I love Connor.

End Quote

" Watching a peaceful death of a human being reminds us of a falling star; one of a million lights in a vast sky that flares up for a brief moment only to disappear into the endless night forever."

AND

Who has not sat before his own heart's curtain? It lifts: and the scenery is falling apart."


	6. Up in the Air PT3

A/N: OMG an update so quick, are you mad, what is wrong are you ill? hehe. Thank you to all of my wonderful new readers and my persistent old ones. Remember folks Reviews are little happy pills that make me float. Just so you know the first like thousand words are a dream but they have...... READ AND SEE

Beginning quote

Dreams say what they mean, but they don't say it in daytime language.

"Hello?" her voice echoing, all around her was black, darkness crushing down on her. The only light came from a small glowing candle on the ground. The flame flickered in a nonexistent breeze, the light flickering, casting shadows over dark shapes. It was the ARC. She was standing in the ARC. All around her computers were blank, the keyboards missing keys. A thick layer of glittering dust covered the ground, shapes and symbols etched into it. Furniture was destroyed and the pieces strewn around her, catching the light and shards of glass as long as her arm lay bloodied around her. Something moved behind her, a scrapping noise coming from her left

"Hello?" she turned to the left. There was a bang over to her right and she spun around seeing something huge coming toward her. The Anomaly Detector teetered above her slowly straining against its frayed wires, moving out of time, like a tree falling in the forest slowly swinging to the ground. As she tried to jump out of the way she slipped, the anomaly detection device crashing down on top of her legs, sparks flying and dust billowing up in clouds. She hissed as she tried to wiggle her leg out, the pain making tears stream down her face.

"shhh" someone hissed from over her shoulder

"Hello? Hello? Who is it? Can you help me?" the candle that had been flickering was fading now the light burning out. And then in a final flair of light it went out. Hands reached out to touch her face, calloused beaten hands caressing her cheeks and wiping her tears, the voice shushing her.

"You mustn't disturb him, if you disturb him, who knows what could happen?" she felt fear coursing through her body and burning at her insides. The was no light and she could feel the hands smoothing her hair, making it wet and slick even though the hands were bone dry. She recognised the voice, familiar, safe.

Then another voice, and another set of hands joined them. This pair gripped at her arms, his hands small, thin and smooth, almost childlike, and his voice came out clean and crisp.

"I'm going to help you, but you best shut up. If he knows we are here he will stop" and with that the hands moved to her leg, pushing the Device upwards, relieving the pressure. The hands on her face seized her under the arms and pulled backwards. As they did so, the Device crashed back to the floor. She couldn't help but cry, tears streaking down her face. The hands returned, the rough ones soothing her, propping her up and petting her hair like a small child and the smaller pair awkwardly holding her hand patting the back of it. She felt calmer, safer, sure than she knew these two, sure she recognised the smell of dirt and aftershave on the jacket one of them was wearing. But as she quieted, she heard another voice. Another person, further away, whispered quietly, incoherent words and phrases.

The slowly light spread out around her. A ring of candles pressed up against the walls of, what was undeniably, the center of the ARC. Candles of all shapes and sizes crowed on the far wall, climbing up the ramp, resting on tables and ledges in the offices above and the tables and labs around her.

Nick Cutter cradled her watching something in front of him and Lester sat cross legged, dressed in simple dark trousers and a striped pink shirt, holding her hand. But in front of her sat Connor.

He looked strange, thinner, and leaner than she remembered. He was bare foot, his toes curling and uncurling as he rocked slowly. He was wearing only a pair of pinstripe pants, a pair she had seen him in a million times. His exposed chest was covered in cuts and scars, and markings that looked like tattoos, but at the distance she was sitting at, Abby couldn't tell if it was just the light. His wrists were bare, the first time she had ever seen them that way, and they were covered with think raised scars. She never noticed how long and thin his fingers were, and she watched them now as the slowly scribble in the dust, letters and symbols accompanied by sweeping arches.

"He needs to stop being me" it was nick, looking at Connor with sad far away eyes. Abby stood pulling herself away from their hands and walking toward her friend. She turned to check with Lester and Cutter for reassurance, but they lay slumped against one another mouths taped over.

"Connor?" the tears were starting again. She wanted to reach out and touch him, make him look at her. She walked carefully around the drawings and sat next to him, small and unsure. Slowly she leant toward him, feeling his body heat, too hot to be real or healthy. He stopped as her hand reached out to tough his wrist, pulling it back.

"Con? It's me, Abby." He turned to look at her, his face pale and drawn. A ghost of a smile danced across his eyes, and hesitantly he put his arm around her, pulling her closer to him. It was all to fake, to unreal; his deathly high temperature, his strange jarring movements and blank face. Connor would never be this forward. He would have noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt, blushed, apologised, and pushed her away.

But as it was, he held her. Awkwardly at first, and slowly moving closer, fist balling into the cloth of the dress she was wearing, something long and sweeping in a dark shade of teal, she was sure she wasn't wearing it a second ago. He was clinging to her like a life line holding her close, muttering and choking on silent tears.

Then a laugh ran out through the room, shill high and deafeningly loud. She was surrounded by dark figures, figures that ranged in shape and size. She looked back at nick and Lester, but they were lying on the floor, bodies' ridged faces blank, grey and dead. The figures starting moving closer and closer, Connor started twisting and turning in her arms screaming, blood was trickling from his mouth and deep cuts appearing on his back. The figures were dragging her back, into the fire that had spread out around the edge of the ARC.

She woke with a start, gasping for breath, grabbing for the something to hold onto, but her hands grabbing only air. Shapes swam over her.

"Miss Maitland, we have to ask you to keep still, you're going to rip of your oxygen mask"

"Abby, Abby!"Someone was calling her .her head spun as she turned to the dark shape on her left

"It's Danny, Abby you took a fall. We tried to catch you but you swung on to the landing underneath us, you fell all the way down the stairs"

"Were am I?" the world was still fuzzy

"You're in the back of the medical van, doctors said you have a minor concussion but that's all. We bagged the eagle, and he's back through the anomaly." The fuzzy edges were becoming sharper now and she could see Danny's rough face come into definition.

"What about Sarah and Stephen?"

"Oh they are all fine. Sarah got knocked out, but most of the blood came from Stephens arm. Don't worry, he's been treated, but we are getting someone to drive the two of you home"

She was escorted to a car, past jean, who smiled sweetly at her, the picture of calm PR person composure. She was loaded into a black SUV were Stephen lay, his expression sleepy and his skin slightly grey under his tan. Her mind flashed back to the image of Cutter and Lester's dead bodies on the arc floor, candle light reflecting of the angles in their face.

They were dropped off at the front door and the tall surly driver unlocked the door for them and helped the weakened Stephen up the stairs.

There was a box on the front step, ARC packaging with a scribbled note from Lester saying "miss Maitland please refrain from forwarding your junk to my office" she sighed and climbed up the stairs, nodding to the driver on his way. She set the box on the table as Stephen lounged on the sofa. She carefully slit it open and sighed. Another Connor box, this one containing a few scruffy star trek paper backs and a thick stack of old beanies babies, most of which were hers. She had figured out where to boxes were coming from weeks ago. An old storage facility down town was closing up shop and sorting through inventory box by tiny box. When she had figured it out, she had felt like some of the hope she was holding on to that he was alive died. But then again, the storage items still said Connor temple, making her all the more confused

"All right Stephen, kettles boiling, I'm goanna put the washing machine on" she was grateful to retreat to the laundry room/ closet, far away from Stephen.

She rested the basket on her hip and started sorting through the various pieces of clothing. If Connor was here it would be his week to do the laundry. It was a mundane thought, but those were to only ones that seemed to come to her these days. The images of the vivid dream flashed in her eyes, the candles, nicks face, Connors back covered in blood, and Connor clinging to her like a lifeline as the figures moved in around them, it was all much too real. She lest the tears fall as she shakily continued sorting, crying for herself mostly. And the one person who could make the tears go away with his innocent jokes, wasn't even here, maybe wasn't even sane in the dream was anything to go by, or alive.

"Stephen I'm just goanna get your laundry ok?" she heard him grunt from the other room, and she took it as a yes.

She slipped into his unlit room silently quickly turning on a light. Stephens's room was plain and boring still resembling a guest room to her, sparsely decorated and cold feeling. She was going to get the laundry when she saw something sticking out of the trash. A shirt, one of Stephens's old button ups, something she had never seen him wear. She carefully picked it up and turned it over, checking it for holes or tears. Finding none she was about to through it into the basket when something caught her eye.

Blood. It stained dark muddy brown around the cuffs and the bottom. She might have even though it was his own, but as she looked closer, she saw it was sprayed everywhere. Tiny little flecks of muddy brown. The rational voice in her head said _it could be someone from the ARC no reason to get upset_. But the louder voice, the one that tended to control her actions screamed at her, _this is bad, very very bad._ The blood made her feel freaked, because she knew for a fact no one had been injured at the ark for weeks, and she remember that horrible skin crawling feeling she got whenever she was around him. _It could be nothing it _said the rational voice, but the louder voice answered _it could be everything._

_A:N_ DUNDUNDUN!

End quote

_**It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood.**___

Creepy?


	7. Burned to the Ground PT1

**AN: I AM SO SORRY. I know I took ages to update and to be honest it was because I really felt uninspired going into this chapter. That is also why this chapter is a lot shorter. But THIS CHAPTER IS IMPORTANT. This basically introduces the main arc of the story. Anyhow, I'll you get reading and THANK YOU TO ALL MY NEW LITTLE WATCHING PEEPS AND REVIEWRS, YOU ARE LOVED **

**Quote**

**Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host.**

**But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.**

He watched her as she cradled her head in her hands, sweeping her blond hair out of her face. There was soot staining her cheeks. At the edges of the fire he could see shapes moving, men from the ark trying to save anything from the building. He smiled to himself. He knew nothing would survive; every animal and document in that place was burning as the bricks blackened. Abby turned to look at him, and his smirk fell into an expression of fear. It was well practiced, he had seen it many times and it was easy to copy. She was imploring him to do something, searching his face. 'Trying to make me a hero' he thought.

"Stephen, what if Danny is getting hurt, he's been in there for ages... what if Helen did this?"

"Helens dead Abby" he snapped. She looked taken a back and turned toward the fire again. Stephen sighed. The mask was slipping. The hours spent watching over Abby staying at the ark to keep up his cover and studying to make sure he could play his part as nerd extraordinaire where wearing him thin.

Becker was pulling up now with the firemen, all specially briefed and on standby since the cutter incidents. This however was not the ark. It was some tiny little freelance lab on the outskirts of London that Danny flagged because it was using huge amounts of energy and importing large amounts of animal sedatives and acid. This alone would have suggested some little animal testing facility, but couple that with mysterious connections to the ark, Danny's interest had peaked. . This lab worked as the disposal team for the ark, taking the dead bodies and getting rid of them discreetly. Danny had radioed the team in ages ago, and then dove into the blazing building.

"How did Danny even find out about this place?" Stephen thought

"Oh you know, he's an ex-cop, likes to make sure alls security is water tight." Stephen flinched as he realized once again, he had spoken his thought out loud. That was a dangerous thing for someone like him.

Jean reached over and patted him on the back

"Brighten up, she have some of the best people here to put out this fire, Danny will be fine". Stephen smiled tightly. Just a few minutes ago he had been sitting at home, drinking tea with Abby, laughing at her stories. There had been no action with the anomalies since the eagle's attack, so Abby was defiantly appreciation the down time. However this inactivity made Stephen nervous. The need to move was wired into him; an addiction to adrenaline.

He excused himself from Jeans Company and Abby's angry stare. His mobile was ringing.

"Hello, this is Hart?"

"This is Cleanup crew." A simple phrase but simplicity made it easy enough for the clones to remember and repeat ant the stat of the calls.

"How many of you got out of the fire?"

"13 out of approximately 16. We had to put down some of the injured. Don't worry, we left no trace"

"Good. What about the tech? Did any of the research survive?"

"Some of it, enough that we can get him to starts reconstruction again. He won't be happy about it."

"Oh dear perhaps we should give him a break, send him on holiday"

"Sir?"

"If he isn't bloody happy about it, then we will just have to put him back in with that predator now won't we?"

"Yes sir"

"What about Quinn? Did he see you" the firefighters were still struggling to get the fir under control, but Stephen had a sneaking suspicion Danny could burst from the building at any minute, full of bravado. He needed to know how much damage repair needed to be done.

"Never saw any of us, or the research. All he managed to see was the old corpse of a predator and then the alarm system picked up and the building detonated. Don't know how he survived sir"

"Yes, well unfortunately Danny does have a knack for surviving." He snapped the phone shut. This was good. So far it seemed all that Danny had seen was what he was supposed to see, a dead future predator awaiting dismemberment and disposal.

Sighing he ran a hand trough his hair and adjusted his collar. He let his face fall into a kind expression and returned back to stand with the others, one arm slung around Abby, even though she tensed up as soon as I put it there. We waited in silence, Abby standing stiff as a column and Becker hugging Sarah, who was crying into his chest. He knew exactly what they were thinking '_not another one, not again'. _Cutter death rocked this team, almost breaking it apart, and now Abby, who despite his best efforts, still had strong memories of Connor. She even woke in the night sometimes, sobbing his name behind her locked door. The rest of the team feared they were losing her to herself; they had even talked about it, staging an intervention or getting her counselling.

And now Danny was trapped inside a burning building and it was happening all over again

**End Quote**

**And where two raging fires meet together, they do consume the thing that feeds their fury.**

**AN: PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. Give me some direction readers**


	8. Burned to the Ground PT2

A:N I don't hate Connor, believe me the fact that I torture him is a sign of my love. I am a sucker for the whole "guy gets beat up and bloodied" thing. Btw, has anyone else ever noticed we never see Connors wrists.... I think there is a past there. Like he used to be super popular and then something bad happened and he become an emo, and then he went to college and became SUPER NERDTASTIC (just the way we like him)

**Beginning Quote**

"**You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind."**

"HE SAW YOU" Stephen was spitting in the rough wrinkled face of one of the cleaners. They were lined up at in the research floor of the secondary lab. This was the place where all the good research would go, the reality of his grimy little cleanup job in London. The little operation back in London was always a safety net in case the ARK caught wind of what was going on. But still, when Danny had come out of that building, with barely a scratch on him, yelling about the 'clones'. The team had immediately put two and two together and shown him the surveillance of cutters death. The surveillance which had been skilfully edited by those same cleaners to put a random lab technician in Connors place in every single shot.

"Sir he didn't know who we were"

"HE STILL SAW YOU. And then the brilliant little miss page got out her giant POPUP BOOK OF CLONES"

He turned around and ran a hand through his scruffy hair and looked out into the sunken area where they kept Connor. The lab was arranged in three floors the two top floors were circular balconies, packed with computers and cramped desks, but the bottom one was a sunken pit, where they kept the predators, and Connor.

Ah, Connor. It had been so easy for the Stephen to send a couple of cleaners through the future anomaly after the ARK team, to lie in wait until Abby and Connor had gone off to sleep and then snatch the snoring scientist right out of the past and into the lab using the dying anomaly device. After that it had been an easy job to activate the newly improved neural inhibitors in the minor staff at the ARK and put them into the field agents once they got back. If only Abby hadn't been so stubborn and refused medical checkups after her trip, she would have the chip two, and the whole mess of moving in to keep an eye on her could have been. He had also paid off a couple of excellent hackers to do a cleanup job on the records and surveillance systems. It had been a rush job and Stephen was still worried that if you dug hard enough you might still be able to find surveillance footage of the ARK during down time with Connor skateboarding throughout the halls, but the important stuff was all edited and slipped back into place with ease.

Now all that was left was a broken body and a scared mind. Connor temple sat huddled in a heap at the bottom of what the cleaners referred to as the pit, where bad employees would be sent for death by predator. It was a simple circular room, sunken 20 ft down into the ground and surrounded on all sides by cages, some full of weapons and research, and some home to the predators. Connor sat in the center of the pit, where he usually was kept, and scribbling plans out furiously on a giant sheet of paper he had taped together. That was what Stephen needed him for, his brain, his unstoppable brain. The only man alive who could even hope to reconstruct the artefact and make the device that could send him back in time to save her; Helen, the creator. She was the one that made them all; some of them for their hard work like the cleaners, and some of them, like himself, as her successor.

He turned back to the assembled line

"Has anyone told him we lost the plans?"

"No. We thought you would want to". Stephen smiled, they knew him well. He nodded to them and then made his way to the pit, via the cage elevator. The elevator opened up in the room where he kept the weapons, surrounded on both sides by the large ugly predators that he and his scientists worked so hard to control. He gazed at the table that held the impressive array of knives. They gleamed in the orange glow of the old light bulbs; small rectangular combat knifes, WW2 trench knifes, Balisongs, and hooked Corvos, light daggers, stilettos and huge gleaming Macheties. But he selected from among his favourites, the short precise scalpels, old fashioned straight razors and vicious Bowie knifes. He carefully picket up one of the Bowie knifes weighing it on his palm and then gripping it firmly as he unlocked the door to the pit.

"Hi Connor". The young man's head whipped up. His arms were still caked in blood from previous torture sessions, his hairs was stuck to his sweat slicked forehead and his skin had a pale, sickly tinge to it

"This horrible thing happened today, would you like to hear?" Connor remained silent, watching Stephen with wide calculating eyes. He knew better than to answer him now. If he opened his mouth even to agree he would be punched, kicked and cut. So he kept silent, crouched over. He was boiling from the overly hot temperature that Stephen kept the pit at. He claimed it was all for his predators, but Connor suspected it was just so Stephen could watch him suffer from heat stroke. The temperature made him think of to a faraway place, and a faraway person, him and Abby dancing around the kitchen in nothing but their underwear, singing along to bad pop music.

But then Stephen thrust his finger deep into one of the bullet wounds in Connors shoulder, scraping his finger through the flesh. "They will find me" it was a whispered mantra, spat through gritted teeth, repeated again and again. Stephen would have cut it out of him long ago, but he had a feeling that to produce work Connor would need his sanity.

"I said, would you like to hear?" Connor rocked backwards, muttering the same thing over and over. "Answer me, COME ON, YOU WANT TO KNOW "

"Go ahead, make my day". A movie quote, entirely appropriate in Connors opinion. And even though most of his bravado was gone, and the phrase was muttered weakly; it was worth it to feel the rumblings of laughter again, even if they did hurt his muscles all over. Stephen expertly ran the tip of the hooked blade along Connors bare chest, leaving another shallow cut, marking out another scar.

"we lost the plans, you insolent little kid, your brilliant plans" Stephens voice was dripping with sarcasm, but unfortunately, he really needed those plans, and to get them back, he obviously needed to re-train Connor, get him back under his thumb.

"You almost gone you know. I have been picking up pieces of you all week. Stuff you left lying around. And you know what that means, don't you"

Connor had gone back to silence now, his eyes flicking shut

"DON'T YOU" Stephen swung the blade across Connors ribs and then smashed the hilt across his purpled cheekbone.

"Your almost gone, she's almost forgotten you. And once she forgets you it will be easy for me to just, slip into your life, become their little brain box. And you know the best part about being you"

Stephen had the knife poised at Connors shoulder, his grin manic as Connors eyes widened

"I get her, all to myself, where ever, when ever, however. And when I'm done, she will be a cheap little whore"

He drove the knife down into the joint and Connor roared in pain.

**End Quote**

**"It's amazing how someone can break your heart and you can still love them with all the little pieces"**

Reviews are the food of gods BTW. But easily on the flaming


	9. Burned to the Ground PT3

**AN: come on you know you missed me. Again so much thanks to all the reviewers and subscriber, you guys make me keep going. Seriously. Sometimes I feel if I don't you'll find me and do me bodily harm.... its good motivation! Btw I would love to hear how people interpret the quotes.**

Burned to the Ground PT3

Beginning Quote

People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes.  
Abigail Van Buren

"So what was it? Some sort of research lab?" the team, where sitting around in the arcs infirmary. Once they had ushered the nurse out and turned off the security feeds, Danny started to talk.

"Yeah. I had my suspicions early on. They used to take care of animal disposal for us. They would take the bodies and... Get rid of them. That sort of explains the acid and the energy use; they probably dissolved a lot of the bone matter. But I was still puzzled about the food. I mean they were just supposed to be a disposal agency. Then last night I got this text, telling me to "follow my gut to the lab, and stay away from the tracker" kind of weird but... what the heck right. It seemed to know enough for it not to be some random text."

"So you thought you would just drive out the all on your own. Marvellous idea Quinn" Lester was pacing back and forth at the foot of the makeshift hospital bed. Sarah lent against the wall, Becker was stationed at the door and Abby sat with Danny on top of the neatly made pasty green sheets.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time, yeah"

"And then you got blown up

"Well that wasn't part of the plan gov"

"Well then what was the plan Danny! Huh? Because it looks to me like you just ran into a highly dangerous situation, with no back up, no knowledge of the situation that you were lead to by a mystery man and no foresight to tell the rest of us where you were. You're lucky that Stephen flags all mysterious circumstances at our contracted facilities as soon as they occur or otherwise YOU WOULD BE A LUMP OF BLOODY COAL" Lester was screaming at the top of his lungs. "IF YOU LOT KEEP RUNNING OF ON YOUR OWN SOON OR LATER I AM GOING TO BE PLANNING ANOTHER FUNERAL. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH BLOODY DEATHS THIS YEASR I DON'T NEED YOURS TO QUINN OR YOURS ABBY. " he turned to Becker "YOUR SUPPOSED TO BE KEEPING AN EYE ON THEM! I WOULD SAY THAT DR PAGE SEEM TO BE THE ONLY ONE I CAN COUNT ON, BUT AFTER THE INCIDEDNT WITH THAT STUPID EAGLE, DON'T KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT NEXT. ITS A GOOD THING I CAN COUNT ON STEPHEN TO COME THROUGH UNHARMED OR ELSE THE MINISTER WOULD PUT THIS ENTIRE TEAM ON SUICIDE WATCH!" he sat down heavily in a chair and started rubbing his forehead. "Where is Stephen, did anyone call him?"

"He had something to do at home". The room lapsed into silence.

"Ok then Quinn. What did you find?" Lester seemed to have calmed down as jean handed him a paper cup of water.

"Nothing much. A couple of goony looking guys hacking their way through a predator and another one building some sort of tech. Weirdest thing though, all the same guy." At that remark, everyone sat up a little straighter.

"All the same guy?"

"Yeah, the exact same like they were all-"

"-clones. It's the cleaners, it has to be" Sarah stooped down and started rummaging in her purse

"What did they look like Danny?"

"I don't know. Tall, big guys." Sarah sighed and pulled out a book, some sort of worn filophax. She flipped it open to a dog eared page.

"Like this?" she shoved to book toward Danny.

"Yeah just like that" it was a picture of one of the cleaners, the first one to try and infiltrate the arc.

"I took it after they cleaned him up. I thought it would be useful to keep tabs, see if anyone else like him showed up in surveillance, that sort of thing"

"So what does this mean" jean spoke in her no nonsense tone, the one that seemed to be the default setting when it came to PR people.

"Do you think it means... could she be" Sarah was stumbling over the words, the filophax shaking up and down in her trembling hands

"I think Dr Page, we must assume the worst."

"and that is?" jeans voice was getting more shrill as she tried to pull herself up to full height, trying to keep in control of the situation

"I suppose, it means Helen is back."

"Gov, that's not possible. I saw her in the past, she had her neck snapped her ribs broken and her skull was cracked. No way is she back. Not even the great Helen cutter walks away from those injuries."

"Danny, show us the text." Danny pulled an old dated cell phone out his pocket and handed it to Becker.

"Is this the same phone you took with you through the anomalies?" Becker turned it around in his hands, wrinkling his nose up at the clumped dried dirt that surrounded the keypad.

"Yeah, perfectly good phone"

"Danny it's covered in dried prehistoric goo. Even Abby let us get her a new phone"

"No thanks, I've had that thing for 10 years, it knows every one I know. It goes nowhere"

"Says exactly what Danny said it does. Follow your gut to the lab, and stay away from the tracker."

"Sounds like the type of thing Co-"the team all looked up at her, worriedly. It had become apparent to her that, jean Lester and Danny all believed Connor to be a figment of her imagination, created out of "intense loneliness and the need for personal intimacy".

"The type of thing Connor would say. Spy speak, you know" he hung her head and let the bangs fall back over her eyes. If she could prove Connor was real maybe they would help her find him. After one fruitless search by the strangely compatible team of Sarah and Becker, Lester had dropped the investigation and filed the reports away in the cabinet devoted to the team's mental health.

"Hold on" Danny had his phone with him in the past, when the switch occurred... so maybe "Danny, can I see your phone?"

"Sure" he shrugged nonchalantly and waved a hand at Becker to hand the phone to Abby. It took her some figuring out, but in all the junk on his phone, she finally located Danny's contacts list, something she imagined he hardly ever used

Abby carefully scrolled down, dirt trickling away as she pushed at the buttons. She kept going down and down until she saw it. There in the same dull pixelated text, was the name Connor temple

"He's real"

END QUOTE

Glory comes too late, after one as been reduced to ashes.  
Marcus Valerius Martial

**An: I realise I must be hated so much by you all right now. Sorry. My lame excuse is that i have been trying to focus on work, like reading for English and studying for science. **


	10. The Tracks of a Ghost PT1

**Quote**

"**In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on"**

**Robert frost**

"What?" Danny grabbed his phone out of Abby's white knuckled grip and stared down at the unfamiliar name. He then looked up and asked "does anyone else have him on their phone"

"I do, but I had to by a new phone after the ... incident, I only put it in last week" Abby sighed, pulling out her brand new bright green phone and putting down on the end of the bed in front of Danny

"I don't have him" Becker showed Danny the screen of his phone, open to the contacts list and showing the short list of C's starting with C. Daniels and ending with C. Francis.

"Wait, wait a moment I think I have something... yeah I have a number for a Connor" Sarah proudly displayed her phone to Abby who took note of the familiar number scrolling along underneath Connors highlighted name

"I have a number for " Lester waved his blackberry in front of Abbys face.

"Yeah it's the same number for all of them." Becker confirmed "I guess this proves this is no Claudia brown incident."

"You mean this guy is real? This Connor temple guy, I mean the only proof we have is Abby's word and a couple of phones" Danny looked sceptical. He wanted to believe Abby, but the thought of this guy disappearing of the face on the earth, and the only thing left behind a 22 year olds memory... it seemed unlikely

"Well look at the evidence." Becker jumped up, coming to Abby's defence " Like you said, Abby remembers him, we still have his number in our phones, there's that old locker at the end of the change room with that old hat and gloves Abby said he owned, and she said he kept getting his stuff delivered to their apartment. She even has a photo" Becker elbowed Abby

"You do?"

"Yeah" Abby pulled the old school photo out of the inside jacket pocket where she kept it. A grinning Connor aged ten, in a white shirt and red and grey striped tie. She handed it to Danny

"Ok, So going on the assumption he's real, what do you think happened?"

"Maybe someone is trying to infiltrate the ARC. Taking away our main techno nerd would defiantly give them an opening. They way I remember it, Connor set the entire ARC network up; from the dinosaur database, to the Anomaly detection device and the program that unlocked the artefact. "

"But they would need some major techno skills themselves. I got Stephens entire research team checking this name on the ARC data bases, but nothing came up. To delete some one that entirely is no small job"

"Yeah but whoever it was managed to forget the phones"

"They didn't forget Becker's phone. Why doesn't he have his contact info? I mean, if Lester has him, then Becker has to as well, he has the rest of us." Sarah mumbled as she scrolled through the soldier's phone

"Unlike your phones, Captain Becker's is connected on the ARC server; just like mine" jean said waving her phone "Mr. Lester's is a private line"

"Ok, stop." Danny stood up and moved to the center of the small room "I'm getting the fact some evil super genius wiped the ARC database. I am also getting the fact that our brain box..."

"Connor"

"-Connor, is missing, what I am not getting, is how someone can wipe the brains of over 100 people who work in a top secret government organisation."

"Wiping our brains?"

"Well think about it. This guy still has pieces of his floating around here; a phone number, a box of clothes, and empty locker and most importantly Abby's memory. If he was erased all together, then there would be none of that, the only thing left would be Abby and me. Why can't I remember him if she can. Someone is controlling us, making us think differently."

"What, you mean like mind control" Lester questioned, as Sarah started flicking through her folder to see if they had seen anything like it

"Let's not get too crazy, it was a suggestion. I'm not saying there are a bunch of Jedi's doing mind tricks on us"

"Maybe that's no so crazy after all" Sarah said. She looked up and saw everyone staring at her like she had grown a third head or something. "Oh not the Jedi thing! The mind control, here" she pulled out a sheet of paper, a report of some kind, and handed it to Lester.

"Ah yes" Lester shifted uncomfortably, and jean craned in toward him to get a better look. "I remember this. Helen used them to control the future predators." He held the paper out towards Danny. The report was signed off by Lester and cutter, and pinned to the top was a photograph of a large metal cylinder, attached to a mess of cables and wires.

"When they're on, they glow red" Lester told Danny as he scanned the report.

"Don't you think we would have noticed by now if all the ARC employees were walking around with giant glowing buttons on their foreheads?" Becker asked sceptically

Lester sighed, "It would be a little bit of a giveaway"

"Yeah just a bit"

"Maybe they have changed them?" Danny asked, looking at Sarah, as she seemed to be the authority on tech in the room." You know, made them smaller, invisible"

"Like an implant?"

"Yeah!"

"But then they would need to get them into our heads" said Becker

"All ARC personnel have to undergo regular medical checkups, they last one being just a few days before Miss Maitland and Mr Quinn went missing. I suppose it would be within the realm of possibility they could be activated after they were implanted."

"They could I supposed. And Becker and I hit our heads pretty hard after that explosion at the kitchen; we had to get checked over, it would be easy enough to just inject one in. Lester You could have been drugged and then programmed to forget it, and danny got checked over right after he came back"

"but i didn't" abby whispered to herself. Finally they were beliving her, connor was getting closer and closer by the second. Why did she feel like he was slipping away?

"Wakey wakey!" Connor's eyes snapped open, the world spinning around them beneath him and fireworks popping in his vision, frying his nerves. "Really Connor, I didn't know you where one for sleeping on the job" Stephen crouched over him, right in his face. He was so close Connor swore if he moved fast enough, he could grab the knife Stephen clutched in his dominant hand. Unfortunately it seemed that Connor had been staring at the blade, as Stephen quickly stood back up

"Don't think you'll get it Connor. You're so dehydrated you can't stand straight, imagine what you'd be like in a knife fight. I'd be scared you might hurt yourself" he pulled Connor up by his injured shoulder and grabbed him roughly by the chin, forcing him to look round into his face.

"No Connor, I need those plans, and I need them now. If you don't get them for me... well, let's just say you might be getting some company down here"

**END QUOTE**

You don't have to go looking for love when it's where you come from.

**Werner Erhard**

**AN: BUH BUH BUM. Yeah high I'm back, sorry I took a vacation. First my computer broke and then I just sort of lost momentum with this chapter... I just didn't know where do go with it all... hope it's up to your standards, and you'll see me (and Connor) again soon **


End file.
